SMCHA BOARD MEETING MINUTES
March 25, 2002

SWISS (VOLHYNIAN) MENNONITE CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION MINUTES

Tuesday, March 25, 2003, 3:30 PM
Eden Mennonite Church Fellowship Hall

Present: Arnold Wedel, Roger Juhnke, Jay Goering, Ben Stucky, Maynard Krehbiel, Ozzie Goering, Gary Stucky, Wayne Stucky, LaVera Schrag, Scott Waltner, Waneta Goering

Call to Order: Arnold Wedel, Chair, called the meeting to order

MINUTES OF JANUARY 9, 2003

The minutes were reviewed.

MOTION: It was moved by Ozzie Goering and seconded by Ben Stucky to approve the minutes as presented. Motion carried.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Jay distributed and reviewed the February 1, 2003 through March 28, 2003 treasurer’s report. He reported an increase of $17.11 in interest to the Cemetery Endowment Fund (interest rate on Endowment Fund if 1.2%), and an increase in dividends of $7.75 to the Swiss Money Market Account. There were $345.50 received in membership dues and expenses of $75.00 for the banquet and $259.95 for website maintenance, which left a balance of $2,468.62 to the Swiss MC&H Checking account. There was no change to the Cemetery Endowment Fund. Jay reported that website maintenance is done on a quarterly basis.

MOTION: It was moved by Gary Stucky and seconded by LaVera Schrag to accept the financial report as presented. Motion carried.

SPRING BANQUET AND DEDICATION OF DIRECTORY BUILDING, JUNE 3, 2003

The banquet will be held at Memorial Home Activity / Wellness center, Moundridge, Kansas. The dedication for the directory building will be held at Hopefield cemetery at 5:30 pm and the banquet at 6:30 pm in the Activity / Wellness center at Memorial Home. The banquet will include a Joe C. Goering table, Lou Fensky will be asked to provide music for both the dedication and banquet, Nancy Hedrick will be asked to do devotions, Jerry Stahly will be the speaker, and the committee will make suggestions on topics. It was suggested that someone from the Peter J.P. Schrag family be involved in the dedication. Mervin Schrag will be organizing this event. Vern Demel of the Kountry Kitchen will cater the meal.

COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS

Research Committee. Wayne Goering

Nominating Committee: Rick Krehbiel

Scholarship Committee. Delbert Goering

MEMBERSHIP DUES

Jay Goering distributed a list of current members for 2003. Jay will compose notice of banquet and notice of membership dues and send to all those who receive the Schweitzer SaltNewsletter—this would be included in all Schweitzer church mailboxes and other individuals (from list). There was discussion regarding having a ten-year membership fee at a reduced rate. There was no decision. January Annual Meeting notices would be sent along with proxies.

CEMETERY DEED AND MOWING

Deed. The deed for the cemetery was finalized and fee paid on 2/12/03. There are 2.98 acres total. Arnold Wedel will make a list of "buried", "probably buried" and "perhaps buried". This will be posted at the cemetery temporarily.

Mowing. Scott Waltner, representative from Hopefield Church, discussed the upkeep of the cemetery. It was decided to keep the present arrangement and revisit the issue again next year.

MONTHLY CHECKING OF PARCELS

Maynard Krehbiel will do monthly checking of all three land parcels. Scott shared that due to the age of the shrubs around the marker, they really need to be removed. It was suggested that Vaughn Juhnke be contacted to do tuckpointing. It was also suggested that four limestone posts be used to border the marker. Maynard Krehbiel will do this.

MCPHERSON COUNTY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION REPRESENTATIVE

It was suggested that Jake Schrag be contacted and asked to serve in this capacity.

SMCHA WEBSITE

The website looks good. The address is www.swissmennonite.org. It was requested that Waneta Goering report each meeting on the number of hits to the website. Roger Juhnke will get the website address to Waneta Goering to access the number of hits so this can be reported. Dennis Quiring is the website master.

SCHWEITZER SALT

The winter issue of the newsletter was put into Swiss church mailboxes in February.

TEN-YEAR MEMBERSHIP

There was discussion regarding implementing a ten-year membership. There was no decision.

NAME CHANGE

There was discussion that making the name change to "Swiss (Volhynian) Mennonite Cultural and Historical Association" would give us clarification. It was the understanding of the Board that it did not have to have a legal change of name with Topeka. There was some concern that this was confusing to the Swiss Mennonites in the Berne, Indiana area. It will go into mailings and in Schweitzer Salt.It was reported that it already appears like this in the publication).

"ONLY SCHWEITZER SPOKEN HERE"

There was interest expressed in beginning an "Only Schweitzer Spoken Here" group. It could possibly be put in the Mennonite Weekly Review. Ozzie Goering and Waneta Goering will work on the logistics.

NEW BUSINESS– There was none.

The meeting was adjourned. The next meeting will be April 29, 2003, 4:00 pm in the Krehbiel Commons area at Memorial Home.

Respectfully submitted,

Waneta Goering, Recording Secretary